Our Staff

Lori Dorfman, DrPH, Director,
was BMSG's first associate director in 1993 and became director in 1998. She earned her doctorate in 1994 from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, where she studied how television news frames health issues. Dorfman oversees BMSG's research, media advocacy training, strategic consultation, and education for journalists and consults with programs across the U.S. on a variety of public health issues, helping them apply the principles of media advocacy. Her research examines media portrayals of public health issues, including children's health, food and beverage marketing, nutrition, breastfeeding, violence, and alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. She co-authored the major texts on media advocacy: Media Advocacy and Public Health: Power for Prevention and News for a Change: An Advocate's Guide to Working with the Media; she edited Reporting on Violence: A Handbook for Journalists, which encourages journalists to include a public health perspective in violence reporting and led an interdisciplinary team that conducted workshops on violence reporting for newspapers and local TV news stations. She teaches a course on mass communication at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health. Dorfman co-chairs the Food Marketing Workgroup, a national coalition dedicated to eliminating harmful food marketing.

Research team

Pamela Mejia, MPH, MS, Senior Media Researcher,
joined the BMSG team to provide analysis of how the media shape discussions around public health issues. She graduated from Washington State University with a bachelor's in human nutrition and received her master's degree at U.C. Berkeley in molecular and biochemical nutrition. Before coming to BMSG, she worked for several years as a clinical research coordinator for English- and Spanish-language nutrition research projects at Children's Hospital Oakland. In 2008 she returned to Berkeley for her MPH and worked as a nutrition counselor for the Alameda County WIC program. Her research interests include maternal and child health, food justice, and the language of violence and sexual violence in the media.

Laura Nixon, MPH, Media Researcher,
analyzes media coverage of public health issues and industry marketing practices for BMSG. She graduated from Pomona College with a bachelors degree in sociology. Her undergraduate thesis explored the framing of the "obesity epidemic" as a public health issue. She worked in public health in Ecuador for several years, where she was involved in qualitative research about a number of topics including sexual and reproductive health activism, young women and abortion, and public health capacity to prevent infectious disease. She returned to the U.S. to earn her master's in public health at U.C. Berkeley. During her time at Berkeley, she worked with the California Department of Public Health's STD Control Branch and U.C. Berkeley's Labor Occupational Health program, conducting qualitative research and media analysis.

Training team

Julieta Kusnir, MPH, Strategic Communications Specialist,
provides media advocacy trainings locally and beyond. She has contributed to bilingual radio programming in the San Francisco Bay Area for a decade. Her radio pieces have aired on NPR, KCBS, and PRI among other media outlets. Julieta continues to produce and host segments of La Raza Chronicles on KPFA radio with an emphasis on health issues. Julieta's long-time commitment to addressing health inequities, particularly those in the Latino community, drew her back to the university to complete a master's in public health. Her areas of interest in the public health field include the media's impact on civic engagement, as well as popular education strategies. Julieta loves teaching and training. Julieta greatly enjoyed her time at San Francisco State University as a lecturer; she also continues to provide trainings for KPFA radio's apprenticeship program. In 2008, she received an Ethnic Media Health Fellowship through The California Endowment.

Fernando Quintero, Strategic Communications Specialist,
joined BMSG to provide media advocacy training and strategic consultation. Prior to joining BMSG, he worked as a print journalist for several newspapers including the Orlando Sentinel, Rocky Mountain News, San Jose Mercury News and Albuquerque Tribune. He is also the former managing editor of Latino.com, an online content portal. Fernando has covered a variety of beats including health, immigration and demographics. He has served as a communications strategist for the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California's Office of the President as well as several nonprofit organizations and private enterprises. He is also former director of NewsWatch Project, a media watchdog organization based at San Francisco State University that promoted fair and accurate media coverage of the LGBT community and communities of color. Fernando received his B.A. in journalism and public relations from California State University, Fresno, and is a proud alumnus of the Institute for Journalism Education at U.C. Berkeley.

Yvonne Rodriguez, Administrative Manager,
supports staff and consultants on BMSG's training team as they deliver strategic consultation and media advocacy trainings. She works as a dedicated team player by coordinating logistical arrangements, developing and producing training materials, conducting background research for tailored trainings, and assisting with other program projects. Prior to joining BMSG, she worked for five years in the marketing and development field producing numerous seminars and focus groups and was instrumental in the success of various marketing events and projects. She earned her B.A. in criminal justice from San Francisco State University.

Communication

Heather Gehlert, MJ, Online Communication Specialist,
is a writer, editor and project manager at BMSG, where she oversees the organization's website and social media presence. She holds a master's degree in journalism with an emphasis in new media from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor's degree in English and communication from Westminster College in Missouri. Before coming to BMSG, Heather was managing editor for AlterNet.org, an online news magazine in San Francisco. She has also spent time as a multimedia journalism coach for San Francisco State University. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including the Los Angeles Times, the Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe.

Caity Dekker, Online Communication Assistant,
is excited to return to BMSG and offer continued support to the communication team after spending the summer of 2013 as BMSG's online communication intern. Her work with BMSG has included curating and editing content for the organization's website and social media platforms, contributing to ongoing media monitoring projects and assisting with editorial tasks. Caity is entering her senior year at Oberlin College, where she is pursuing a double-major bachelor's degree in psychology and gender, sexuality & feminist studies. In addition to her work with BMSG, Caity has also spent the past two years as a staffer at Oberlin College's Sexual Information Center and has worked as an education intern at Planned Parenthood Northern California.

Administration

Angela Burke, Senior Manager Finance and Operations,
provides fiscal and grants management support for BMSG. She has been working in the non-profit sector for eight years with a focus on organizational and financial management. She joined BMSG from another program of the Public Health Institute, Partnership for the Public's Health, where she held the position of Finance, Operations and Grants Manager and served on PPH's management team. Before joining PHI, she was the Program Coordinator for the China Program with Holt International Children's Services, working to serve children in China through foster care and HIV family preservation programs, vocational programs, nutrition programs, financial and medical assistance. She has a B.A. in English and political science from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and a certificate in non-profit management from San Jose State University.

Fellow

Lawrence Wallack, DrPH, Senior Fellow,
recently stepped down as Dean of the College of Urban and Public Affairs at Portland State University after serving for the past nine years. He is also Emeritus Professor of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, where he served on the faculty from 1983 to 2000. In 1993, he was the founding director of BMSG and is one of the architects of media advocacy. He has published extensively and lectures frequently on news media and public health policy issues. Dr. Wallack is the principal author of News for a Change: An Advocate's Guide to Working with the Media, (Sage, 1999) and Media Advocacy and Public Health: Power for Prevention (Sage, 1993). He recently completed his tenure as president of the Board of Trustees of the World Affairs Council of Oregon. In the past, he has served on the Boards of Directors of the Institute for Portland Metropolitan Studies, City Club of Portland, and the national Policy Consensus Initiative. He currently serves on the board of the Praxis Project. He was also a member of the Oregon Health Improvement Plan Committee of the Oregon Health Policy Board and has served as a member on several Institute of Medicine committees. Dr. Wallack has been honored with several awards, including the Innovators Award (2000-05) from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which recognized lifetime achievement and innovation in the area of prevention.

Larry has started a sabbatical as a Senior Public Health Fellow at the Moore Institute for Nutrition and Wellness at Oregon Health and Science University and a Senior Scholar at the Berkeley Media Studies Group. At the Moore Institute, he will work on synthesizing, translating and applying the biological and social science findings on the developmental origins of health and disease at the community, regional and state level. Working with BMSG, he will focus on framing this knowledge to enhance effective communication about the significant policy implications.

Intern

Alisha Somji, Intern,
supports the research team and is interested in analyzing media framing of public health issues. She is currently a Master of Public Health student at the University of Toronto specializing in social and behavioral health sciences. She also holds a double-major bachelor’s degree in media studies and kinesiology, as well as a certificate in writing from Western University. Prior to starting graduate school, Alisha worked as a health promoter for a regional cancer program in Ontario, Canada, and was part of a leadership program at Apple. She is excited to learn from BMSG and its partners during her internship with the organization.